PARIS, France -- Former Cornell men's track and field star Rudy Winkler '17 has passed his first test at the 2024 Paris Olympics games early Friday morning at the Stade de France. The three-time All-American tossed for 77.29 meters on only his first throw. The heave placed him in second in the heat, good for qualification by standard to Sunday's medal round.

The toss finished just two meters shy of the top spot, held by Canada's Ethan Katzberg in group B, who was the only person to pass up Winkler. The American was able to eschew his second and third attempts and remain in the second-place spot. The throw ranked fourth across all heats, setting up a chance at another medal for Team USA. The top finisher in group A, Rowan Hamilton, also of Canada, posted a distance of 77.78 meters, a personal best. Winkler is the only American to advance to Sunday.

Winkler is now setting his sights on a personal-best finish at the Olympics in his third trip. His first final's appearance at the games came at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when after advancing to the finals with his third-place finish in his heat, he placed seventh in the medal round when he threw a distance of 77.08. Winkler's personal best Olympic toss was recorded at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, at a distance of 78.99 meters. His career-best was set at the 021 US Olympic Trials, throwing 82.71 meters. Should he find his way onto the podium, he would be the first American to medal in the event since Lance Deal won Silver in 1996.

Sunday's final is set to kick off at 10:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET) at the Stade de France. The medal round will be available to stream live via Peacock, NBC's digital streaming service.

Group A Results
1. Rowan Hamilton (Canada) — 77.78 [PB] Q
2. Mykhaylo Kokhan (Ukraine) — 77.42 Q
3. Yann Chaussinand (France) — 76.86 q
4. Thomas Mardal (Norway) — 76.78 q
5. Wojciech Nowicki (Poland) — 76.32 q
6. Ragnar Carlsson (Sweden) — 73.96
7. Matija Greguric (Croatia) — 73.69
8. Serghei Marghiev (Republic of Maldova) — 73.46
9. Qi Wang (People's Republic of China) — 72.52
10. Humberto Masilla (Chile) — 71.83
11. Donat Varga (Hungary) — 71.65
12. Soeren Klose (Germany) — 71.20
13. Michail Anastasakis (Greece) — 70.14
14. Mostafa Elgamel (Egypt) — 70.09
15. Patrik Hajek (Czechia) — 68.80
16. Daniel Haugh (United States) — No Mark

Group B Results
1. Ethan Katzberg (Canada) — 79.93 Q
2. Rudy Winkler (United States) — 77.29 Q
3. Eivind Henriksen (Norway) — 77.14 [SB] Q
4. Bence Halasz (Hungary) — 76.90 q
5. Pawel Fajdek (Poland) — 76.56 q
6. Christos Frantzeskakis (Greece) — 75.53 q
7. Merlin Hummel (Germany) — 75.25 q
8. Adam Keenan (Canada) — 73.46 [SB]
9. Denzel Comenentia (Netherlands) — 74.31
10. Volodymyr Myslyvcuk (Czechia) — 73.84
11. Gabriel Kehr (Chile) — 72.31
12. Daniel Raba (Hungary) — 72.29
13. Diego del Real (Mexico) — 72.10
14. Joaquin Gomez (Argentina) — 72.10
15. Jerome Vega (Puerto Rico) — 71.61
16. Ozkan Baltaci (Türkiye) — 71.40

Q - qualification by standard, q - qualification by performance